Saturday, May 01, 2004

Deserting the Euro-ship

Just as ten new nations join the EU, one after another of the EU Commissioners are disappearing back into national politics. This is so important to them that they cannot even wait until this summer when a new Commission will be chosen, anyway. The following summary comes from the European Commission Office in London, published in their weekly newsletter on April 30.

Replacement of EU Commissioners

The employment and social affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou resigned from her post on March 10 to become a member of the Greek parliament. Stavros Dimas replaced her on March 11. From 2000 to 2004 Stavros Dimas was the head of the New Democracy delegation in the Council of Europe.

The regional policy Commissioner Michel Barnier resigned from his post on March 31 to become the minister for foreign affairs in France. Jacques Barrot replaces him. From 2002 to 2004 Jacques Barrot was Chairman of the UMP (Union pour un mouvement Populaire) Group in the French National Assembly.

The economic and monetary affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes resigned from his post on April 18 to become the Spanish finance minister and Spain’s second deputy Prime Minister. Joaquin Almunia replaced him on April 26.

The enterprise and information society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen resigns from his post on July 11 to become the governor of the Bank of Finland.

And as we have already noted, President Romano Prodi is spending his time on campaigning in the forthcoming Italian elections. So much for European identity overcoming national.